January 4, 2008

Following the freezing of the exploitation of gold dust, Tibet 
Autonomous Region Government has now decided to ban the exploitation 
of iron sand across the region.

Tibet has made achievements in recent years in the regulation of the 
mine resource development, but due to benefit-driven approvals of 
iron sand exploitation in some areas, disordered exploitations have 
been rampant in the region, which has seriously disturbed the normal 
resource development order and brought bad effects to the environment.

In order to maintain the normal order in exploring mine resources, 
protect the environment and promote social stability and harmony, 
Tibet decided to ban the exploitation of iron sand, including some 
other heavy minerals, in the whole region starting January 1, 2008. 
In the meantime, the autonomous regional government required that 
government at various levels to conduct a thorough check on all the 
mining sites under their jurisdiction and urge the removal of all 
mining enterprises and equipment from the region within a given 
period and recover the environment of the mining areas that has been 
damaged.

Tibet has rich mineral resource and fragile environment. In 2007, it 
issued a rule to ban the exploitation of gold dust across the region.